The British, it is said, are a pragmatic people, the Irish a nation of dreamers. The British think (and govern) in prose, the Irish in poetry. The British are interested in concrete results, the Irish concentrate on process writes Fergus Finlay.

Am I the only one in Ireland who believes that we are going to bizarre lengths over the whole issue of privacy? Am I the only one who thinks that a national identity card is, in principle, a bloody good idea, and the sooner we all have one the better?

Early education is seen internationally as one of the keys to breaking the cycle of poverty — wouldn’t you think that a country that has one-in-nine of its children living in consistent poverty would finally start to put a value on the things that can break that cycle, writes Fergus Finlay.